Beiyang Fleet

The Beiyang Fleet, or Northern Ocean Fleet, was one of four regional navies of late Qing China, sponsored by Li Hongzhang to guard the approaches to Beijing. Begun in 1871 and equipped mostly with warships built in Germany and Britain, among them the battleships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, it was the largest fleet in Asia in the late 1880s. In 1888 it was formally placed under the Navy Yamen, and its budget was cut. Under Ding Ruchang it suffered heavy losses at the Battle of the Yalu River in 1894 and was annihilated at Weihaiwei.